Inside the mysterious minds of horses
6/22/202614 min
Janet Jones has been fascinated by horses since childhood. She’s now a horse trainer and a neuroscientist, which allows her to explore the minds of the animals to which she’s devoted her life. She even recently wrote a book all about their brains. She says there’s an enormous gap between the way humans have relied on horses for tens of thousands of years – and what we actually know about their brains. And they have lots to teach us humans. That’s why we’re diving into science today.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Emily Kwong· Host0:17
[gentle music] You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. Horses. Maybe it's because I was born in the year of the horse, according to the Chinese zodiac, but I've always been a bit obsessed with them, [hooves clopping] their strength, beauty, and high emotional intelligence, which makes horses perfect companions for a neuroscientist like Janet Jones.
Janet Jones· Guest0:41
I love all the horses that I work with. No, I, I'll take that back. I love most of the horses that I work with.
Emily Kwong· Host0:47
[laughs] Janet has been riding since childhood, and is now a horse trainer who has her own horse. This one horse has become her forever horse, a Dutch Warmblood from Minnesota. They've been together for years.
Janet Jones· Guest0:59
He approaches you immediately. He wants to know, um, you know, who you are and what you smell like and why you're there, and, um, he's, he's just really very curious.
Emily Kwong· Host1:11
And when they met, she noticed he had this bright white diamond in the center of his forehead. It reminded her of the North Star.
Janet Jones· Guest1:17
Horses, in general, are like my compass, and so I decided to name him True North.
Emily Kwong· Host1:24
Or True for short. Now, Janet's relationship to True, and really to all the horses